AA Credit Union

AACreditUnion.org | | 21 etty helped me start the American Airlines Employees Credit Union with 7 members, $700 assets. To- day had many thousands of mem- bers and over $9,000,000 assets pays 4.5% interest on deposits." (1960) I discovered this typewritten slip of paper while sifting through several aviation scrapbooks compiled by former pilot Victor Vernon in the massive archives of the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, an annex of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. "Betty" was his daughter, Betty V. White, and the organization he casually mentioned in a care-free "things I did today" style is now a WKULYLQJ¿QDQFLDOLQVWLWXWLRQZLWKPRUHWKDQ 262,000 members, assets of more $5.96 billion and 45 branches across the country. This month, American Airlines Federal Credit Union celebrates its 80th anniversary, and it all began after Vernon spearheaded a small group of American Airlines employees QLQHWRWDODFWXDOO\ZKRRI¿FLDOO\IRXQGHG WKH¿QDQFLDOFRRSHUDWLYHRQ0D\ Finding out more about the man behind WKLV VXFFHVVIXO ¿QDQFLDO LQVWLWXWLRQ KDV EHHQDORQJDQGGLI¿FXOWMRXUQH\EXWDV I pored over hundreds of yellowing turn- of-the-century newspaper clippings and black-and-white photographs, a clear picture began to emerge. Vernon was not only an extraordinary aviation pioneer who overcame personal adversity, he was also a tireless dreamer who indulged his passions and worked hard to build his own success. Much of this information comes from his unpublished autobiography, The Memoirs of an Early Bird, which he wrote in 1959 when he was 76 years old. 9HUQRQFHQWHUSRVHVZLWKDJURXSRIXQLGHQWL¿HG DYLDWLRQVWXGHQWVLQIURQWRIDÀ\LQJERDWLQ AACreditUnion.org | | 21

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